I need to start this day by saying that Jet Lag is a stupid buger. We thought we had done it right, got as much sleep as we could on the plane, but not too much. Stayed up during all of our train rides and gone to bed at a nice 10pm in Belgium. Well even though we were unbelievably exhausted after all of that travel and we had passed out pretty quickly, we still woke up only 2 hours later and struggled to fall back to sleep. We decided that it would be best to fight through the tiredness today and hope that our bodies could reset and get a good nights rest. The way that we planned it though, there wasn’t much to do on this day. As referenced by the title, today is a day full of train rides. From Brussels all the way down to Salzburg, Austria. Looking forward to some first class train travel as we use our train passes for the first time.
Train #1, Thayls, Brussels, Belgium to Köln, Germany: Up bright and early for this one after an awesome breakfast at Hotel Ibis. It sure is beautiful here in the Belgian countryside. Very excited to get to Germany. It is interesting to see that as we entered Germany there was a change in the way that buildings look. You can really tell when we cross the border. Nice short ride into Köln, a little nervous about figuring out passes, but left plenty of time in between trains to make sure to have time to get them validated.
As we got into the station, it took some time to figure out where to go. Eventually, we found our way to the right offices and it was fairly easy to get the passes validated. Actually, we found the right spot on the first try! Also, we got to use our German for the first time or lack there of, “Sprechen Sie English?” Luckily, they do speak English better than me in some cases. Finding the place so easily makes up for walking around the entire Brussels train station trying to figure out where to go yesterday.
Train #2, ICE, Köln, Germany to Müchen(Munich), Germany: First Class! We do not really fit in but the Germany business men sitting around us don’t seem too bothered though, so I will enjoy the comfort on this 5 hour train ride. Germany is a beautiful country and getting to see lots of it on this ride. Got really close to having an actual conversation in German with the train attendant when ordering “Kaffe und Wasser”. I got thrown for a loop when after saying “I do not want milk and sugar”, she asked if my wife wanted some too. Darn, so close. Again 1st class is totally worth it! So much space to spread out.
Train #3, Local Regional Train, Müchen, Germany to Salzburg, Austria: Almost got on the wrong part of the train, half of the train spilt at one point and went in a different direction. 1st class was not as nice on this train, but we kind of had our own compartment which was nice. Lots of stops, but still these trains go fast! The views started getting better and better as we got close to Austria. We got our first glimpse of the Austrian Alps!! The hills (mountains) are alive! At this point jet lag was really getting worse, we were so tired. As this train went on my head started to spin a little, I think too much sitting and not enough walking around didn’t help. But before we knew it, here we are in Salzburg!
Travel Tales From BB-8 